It is often very important for consumers to determine the cost associated with the purchase of a given product and/or service as accurately as possible. This is true for both budgeting purposes, such as when saving for a given product and/or service, or to determine if a given product and/or service can be immediately purchased with existing funds. However, for many products and services, determining the actual likely total cost of a product and/or service is quite difficult.
For instance, many products and/or services are listed and/or advertised in printed and/or electronic formats at a specific retailer's price, or at a suggested retail price from the manufacturer. However, quite often, a specific retailer's price and/or the suggested retail price is significantly more, or less, than the actual price consumers are paying for the given product or service. This is sometimes due to a manufacturer publishing an artificially high retail price to attract retailers and/or support them. However, in many cases, the difference between a listed retailer/manufacturer price and the actual price being paid is due to discounts, sales, promotions, coupons, regional considerations, and often, simply a better deal being offered by a given retailer.
As a specific example familiar to many consumers, automobiles often have Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Prices (MSRPs) and/or “sticker prices” that are thousands of dollars more than the price most consumers are actually paying for the automobile. However, when a consumer searches the Internet and/or checks a newspaper to find the selling price for a given automobile, it is often the MSRP that is listed as the selling price. In some cases, this inaccuracy can end a potential sale before it even begins as the consumer immediately determines he or she cannot afford the given automobile, and therefore looks to other options. In addition, in the case of an Internet search, the given consumer may indicate a maximum budgeted price for the purchase. In this instance, an inflated MSRP listing price may prevent the consumer from even ever seeing an automobile that, in reality, is selling within the consumer's budgeted amount.
As another specific example, some products and services, such as satellite TV service, wireless Internet, washers, dyers, furnaces, etc. require installation fees and/or disposal fees for the old product being replaced. However, these fees are often not included as part of the listed purchase price and are therefore often not fully considered, and/or budgeted for, by the consumer. As another specific example, shipping costs and/or handling costs of many purchased items can significantly increase the cost of the given product or service. This is particularly true for Internet purchases. However, shipping and handling costs are often not listed as part of the purchase price, or at least not specifically stated. Therefore, these fees are also often not fully considered, and/or budgeted for, by the consumer. Likewise, many purchases of a given product or service include special taxes and/or fees associated with the purchase that are often not included as part of the purchase price, and are often not listed.
As another specific example, when planning an activity for the first time, such as a vacation related activity, the activity itself may have a listed price, but there may also be gratuities and/or equipment rental that must also be paid, or at least are traditionally paid, that are often not part of the actual price for the service. However, theses costs are often not listed as part of the purchase price and are therefore often not fully considered, and/or budgeted for, by the consumer. In addition, when taking part in an event and/or activity, such as staying in hotel, many consumers forget to budget for parking, bell service, valet service, resort fees and taxes, etc.
As a result of the situations described above, it is currently quite difficult to determine the actual total cost associated with many purchases of products and/or services. Consequently, many consumers are faced with unexpected costs associated with a given purchase, and many carefully prepared budgets can be negated by these unexpected costs. This can cause significant consumer stress and all but nullify the consumer's joy and satisfaction with the purchase and/or the service and/or product itself. In other cases, a consumer may unnecessarily put off the purchase of, or fail to make a purchase of, a given product and/or service based on a listed retail price that is significantly higher than the price the consumer would actually have to pay.